Was it difficult to pull over from new? I saw another 850 that went down in no time; it was super tight from new, took both hands to pull over and start, and went down in less than two hundred miles. Makes me wonder if there's a supplier or batch issue. I've always had it in the back of my mind that I could rent if my sled broke on a long trip (and I did once just to try a newer sled), but at $500/day, it'd have to be great conditions to even be worth one day to me (yeah, Chilly says I'm poor...).
I'm not sure an experience like this would turn me off to Polaris forever, but I understand why it does for some (particularly guys like you who have to plan ahead and make a long drive to ride). Not that anyone's perfect, but just too many issues the last couple seasons costing people riding time, and no sense of urgency from Polaris. Somebody already said it in the 2025 rumors thread, but all Polaris needs to do for '25 is make their stuff reliable, and they would dominate.